Protest demonstration, calling for the temporary reinstatement of the Makarios amphidation because they believe it will solve too many of the problems that everyone lives with every day in the city of Nicosia, was held on Saturday by the Makarios and Paradromon Shopkeepers and Owners Initiative Group.
For its part, the Nicosia Municipality said in a statement that it fully recognizes the right of the businessmen and shopkeepers to protest but considers "their decision hasty and premature". We understand that this is a significant change in the daily life of citizens, but the public has not been given the necessary time to get used to it, he notes.
Participants partially blocked Makarios Street at the height of the Ministry of Energy, Trade, Industry and Tourism this morning, holding banners that read: "First European public transport and then one-way streets", "We demand the reopening of Makarios" and holding placards, which read "We demand nerve-free transit", "We demand adequate public transport", "We demand accessible Makarios", "We demand a reduction in stripes", "We demand safety in our neighborhoods", "We demand restoration of downtown commercialism", "We demand choice in driving not exclusion", "We demand respect for the citizen", "We demand traffic safety".
The road closure was carried out in the presence of members of the police, who were regulating traffic.
Meanwhile, the Nicosia Municipality issued a statement regarding the protest event, stating that it fully recognizes the right of businessmen and shopkeepers to protest, However, it considers their decision as brushed and premature, noting that "we understand that this is a significant change in the daily life of citizens, but the necessary time has not been given for the public to become familiar with it".
The representative of the businessmen, owners, residents and visitors of the southern part of Makarios Avenue, from the Landmark Hotel to the Lycabettus Police Station, Marilena Ieromonachou, in her statements at the protest event said, among other things, that they are protesting the change and conversion of the South Makarios road into a strange one-way street, adding that there are three lanes going downtown and one two-way going to the exit of the city and only buses, taxis, bicycles.
"This creates multiple problems in terms of safety. There are daily accidents very serious and many a day and even buses are involved, previously we did not have such a situation," he said.
"It creates traffic congestion within the lanes of Makarios, where people are forced to leave to find their exit and go through a maze to get out of the city. It creates problems for pedestrians and families living in the area in the lanes. We also have the problems of pollutants, which again are transferred to the neighborhoods, and these are completely contrary to the projects that the public projects claim about sustainable mobility," he added.
He also said that the first condition of this project was to put in place public transport, which would adequately serve citizens to get down to the city. "Right now, this is not being fulfilled, it has not been done. Citizens have no alternatives, they are again forced to get into the car and again create rickshaws and all this is transferred to the periphery and the perimeter," she added."
As she said. Jeromonahu, these have direct effects on the economy and their productivity, because they are currently spending a lot more time in cars, spending both gasoline and time away from their families, their jobs, and it's making their quality of life more difficult.
Asked what they are asking for, Ieromonachou said that what they are asking for, even temporarily, until the conditions that the Public Works Transport Engineers and Public Works themselves have set and signed with Europe, i.e. for sustainable mobility, are implemented, is the amphitheatre of Makarios.
He reiterated that the first condition to be implemented is strong public transport.
"Right now we don't have it. When they come to do all these things, which we were told that at least in three to five years the rest of the works will start and in 10-15 years they will be completed, because this project, which is a part of the wider project, starts from outside Nicosia, from Latsia, from the General Hospital. When we asked them why you started, -since it is a big project-, from the 1km that makes it difficult for people to pass through, that makes our lives difficult, they told us that we had to start somewhere."
Referring to the commerciality of the road, Ms. Jeromonahu said that commerciality has declined dramatically, small businesses have closed.
"We who have been on this street for 33.5 years are trying to continue to survive, but all of this has created a lot of harm to commerciality. Our capital city should not be allowed to die. We have a problem with that," she added.
In response to another question, Ms. Jeromonahu said they will continue until they have the answers until solutions are found.
The ELAM spokesman, YEADIS YEADIS, said in a statement that it is unacceptable the one-way street of Makarios which is inconveniencing not only the people of Nicosia but the whole of Cyprus with plans without any logic.
"As ELAM we demand the restoration of Makariou to its previous state," he added.
Stelios Christodoulides
, a resident of the area, said in his statements that with the situation created in Makariou the cost of moving people and their time has quadrupled.
Another resident of the area, Mr. George, in his statements said that apart from the huge problem that has been created in the shops in general, and in the petrol stations, those who live in Makarios from top to bottom are also inconvenienced, noting that it takes him much longer to get home than before.
Premature and hasty decision to protest, says Nicosia Municipality
Moreover, the Municipality of Nicosia, in a statement regarding the protest by businessmen/shopkeepers of Arch. Makarios C', states, among other things, that at the request of the businessmen and shopkeepers of the shopping centre area, it has designed and completed the two phases of the "Makarios Stasikratous Evagorou Shopping Triangle Redevelopment Project."
It notes that the modification of the traffic regulations on Makarios Avenue, like any major and significant change, needs time to adapt.
"We are confident that citizens will embrace the project, as has happened in other areas where similar large-scale redevelopments have taken place (e.g. Stasikratous, Ermou, various streets that have become pedestrian streets in the area within the Walls, etc.)," he adds.
He also states that the project concerning the one-way road of Makarios Avenue from the Landmark Hotel to its junction with Spyros Kyprianou and Digeni Akrita Avenues, which was studied and implemented by the Department of Public Works and the Sustainable Mobility Branch of the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Works, is another important step for the implementation of the Nicosia Integrated Mobility Plan.
The Nicosia Municipality states that it believes that this major change will have a much greater chance of success when a more integrated bus lane network is created, with priority given to the completion of the Makarios Avenue bus lane to its final destination, which is the Nicosia General Hospital, in order to give the bus a real advantage over the car.
He notes that it is equally important to promote other provisions of the Nicosia Integrated Mobility Plan (IMP) as well as other projects that will combine to enhance the dynamics of these projects.
"For example, the increase in the number of bus routes and frequency, the strengthening of the network of bicycle routes, the reconstruction of Famagusta and Larnakos Avenues, the completion of the first section of the Nicosia perimeter and Argyroupolis Avenue, as well as the operation of an additional exit lane on Victory Avenue," he adds.
The Nicosia Municipality says it fully recognises the right of businessmen and shopkeepers to protest.
"However, it considers their decision as hasty and premature. We understand that this is a significant change in the daily life of citizens, but the necessary time has not been given for the public to get used to it," it notes.
"The Christmas season is a good opportunity for everyone to invite people downtown to experience the capital's new commercial boulevard and assess the possibilities and prospects that are being created. The City is planning a series of events in this direction."
Source: CNA
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